Ignored, Ramdev warns of ‘revolution’

With the government paying little attention to him and his deadline for the Prime Minister to clear stand on black money, yoga guru Ramdev warned of a mahakranti (revolution) from Monday.

Extending the three-day protest fast by a day, the yoga guru also deferred to Monday the announcement of his next course of action. A march to Parliament and a mass courting of arrest aren’t ruled out.

"We have now sent a fresh letter to PM. We'll wait till this evening. If there is no decisive action, there will be a mahakranti from tomorrow," he said repeatedly on Sunday.

The yoga guru, who began the fast on August 9 saying he had no political agenda and the stir was not against a particular party, launched a diatribe against the Congress.

"We will now go from village to village telling them may be Congress people own this black money and so they do not want to declare it national asset," he told his supporters at Ramlila Grounds. "No, it is not that we feel so, they have proved it by not taking action."

The Congress was not bringing in the lokpal bill because it feared its ministers would be jailed if a strong anti-graft law was put in place, he said.

The rhetoric was similar to the one that was heard during his last year's stir at the ground that ended in a midnight purge by the police, with Ramdev fleeing the spot in a woman's guise.

Former army chief VK Singh and Kiran Bedi, a member of the erstwhile Team Anna, visited Ramdev, who invited political leaders to join his protest.